Don?t take drivers for a ride

Friday, 25 June 2004

Dear Sir,

It would appear that the present government is smarter than most of us would give them credit for. Their arrogance has already led them to assume that they are going to be the ruling party for ages to come. Well, I think not. There seems to be no real logical reason why they would want to ram the GPS system down the throats of perhaps the most well mannered, best dressed and friendliest taxi drivers in the world, except maybe to line the pockets of those persons who choose to exploit them for personal gain.

Could it be that this same system will one day be used to monitor the movements of persons on bail, the inmates at the Westgate Correctional Facility or at the Co-Ed Facility. Perhaps even those who have a curfew. I know this sounds ridiculous, but is it really? Maybe it will, maybe it won?t. One thing is for sure, it won?t be used to monitor the movements of the GP vehicles that are supposed to be used when serving the taxpayers of this country on a daily basis or to track the movements of the learned ministers who take our money and go overseas to represent us.

Bermuda taxi drivers are great ambassadors and more often than not go beyond the call of duty to ensure friendly, courteous and good quality service. The unsupporting public seem to take great pleasure in chastising the drivers for not being where they want them to be when they need them. Very often it is not the fault of the driver but they bear the brunt of it simply because they are the ones on the front line. It has already been stated that GPS is not going to make getting a taxi any easier.

It may very well be true that if you live in certain neighbourhoods and try to get a taxi at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. it may take a whole hour before one arrives. Some drivers feel uncomfortable for fear that their car may be surrounded, confronted or even robbed by groups of men who suspect that they may even be unmarked police cars as it has been reported. They have to work almost twice as many hours as the average person during the season in order to compensate for the following slow period and don?t want to take any unnecessary risks.

Once bitten, twice shy. Many of them don?t have the privilege of being able to sit with their families to eat dinner at night or even spend time with them on weekends or public holidays. The average person who has never driven a taxi may never know of the plights or dilemmas that drivers have to deal with even in broad daylight. Take time out to talk to some of them and try to understand what they have to endure.

I really would like to know how the general public is going to respond when this same ?transparent? government decides to ram independence down their throats even though the majority of the people may not want it. Are the people going to regurgitate or simply swallow it and like it? Will they march in protest or would they simply let government do their job? Some people have criticised and try to condemn the taxi driver whose car ?broke down? on the bridge. Maybe it did break down, maybe it didn?t.

That?s not the real issue. Perhaps what is more important is the fact that maybe he risked getting a ticket for standing up for something that he firmly believed in. To him it was a small price to pay in order to express his true sentiments in comparison to what our forefathers had to pay so that we all could exercise our democratic rights, if in fact that was the case. The driver who parked behind him was arrested but he too understood the relevance and consequences of his actions. Why sit at the back of the bus? Pay the price if you so desire, but stand tall, stand firm, be heard and above all be recognised.

Mr. Premier, please give your Minister of Transport a shake and wake him up. I heard him dreaming and mumbling something about reintroducing the old Bermuda Railway system. Then he mumbled something about making it mandatory for all taxi vehicles to be painted pink and blue. Although I certainly hope that he was in a deep sleep when I heard him making comments about making it mandatory for all drivers to learn to speak Spanish. Hola! Don?t let the PLP government take the drivers for a ride.

People should be encouraged to continue to exercise a little more patience whilst waiting for a cab. The next time one finds the need to do business in the bank and has to wait in line for an hour to be served or has a doctor?s appointment and has to wait for what seems to be ages (in spite of the fact that you were on time) please take time out to think about the caring taxi driver who wants to serve us and make us feel good too. I would love to continue Mr. Editor but my taxi is here and I must go. Thank you very much for allowing space for me in your daily paper.

GPS is the right thing

June 26, 2004

Dear Sir,

Let me begin by telling you a true story. I can remember when I brought my taxi about 12 years ago, and the first day in the taxi answered the radio for the first time, received my first job, oh no, didn?t get because it was stolen right in front of my eyes! That?s right. The first day on the job and this was my introduction to the taxi industry.

The GPS system is the best thing for this failing industry. All the driver (owners) who don?t want this system are only for themselves, not the general public, who would be better served. They ask why Government should force some thing on a privately owned business. These gentlemen forget you buy a permit that has certain regulation that goes along with it. The cab must be on the road for 16 hours during a 24 hour day etc.

All business is regulated in one way or the other by government. They don?t want anyone seeing that their taxis are parked up at 5.30 p.m. until 9 a.m. the next morning. I can go on and on but I hope you see the point. The Minister only has the general public in mind and we all know this system will serve us all better than the present radio calling system that is in place, which by the way during the slow season only serves a very few drivers (who by the way don?t even have to answer there radio?s but are always busy).

What happens next?

June 24, 2004

Dear Sir,

My questions are: What happens to the taxi owners who refuse to put GPS in their vehicles? Will they be fined? If they are fined and do not pay, will they go to prison? If they go to prison, would that put their vehicle off the road? If their vehicle goes off the road, would that be one less taxi we would have to find for transport? What alternative do the taxi owners have? Can someone answer these questions?

Wedding disaster warning

June 15, 2004

Dear Sir,

I was recently the Maid of Honour in my friend?s wedding, which took place in May. When you get married you want this day to go off without any major disasters. It?s supposed to be one of the happiest days of the bride?s life. That?s what my friend and I thought before we tried to get her bridesmaids? dresses through a merchant here in Bermuda.

Everyone says buy Bermuda, right? Well, we found out the hard way that it?s not always worth the aggravation. Our grievances started three weeks before the wedding when the dresses finally made their appearance in Bermuda. So, all the bridesmaids went in to be fitted one by one (I was off the Island and had to wait). When the first bridesmaid went in it was discovered that the wrong shoes had been ordered. Fine, we could all live with the wrong shoes. They were hidden by the dress so it was not that big of a deal. I got back on the island and went in to be fitted and the lady was late opening the shop and then she could not find my dress.

I breathed deeply and counted to ten, left my number so that they could call me when they finally located it. That was on a Tuesday. Thursday I went in again to be fitted. The bride took the flower girl and the junior maid in the Saturday of that same week to get fitted only to find out that their shoes had not been ordered at all and the girls had to pick different shoes. Then, we had a bridesmaid fly in from overseas and was fitted with no problems, all that needed to be done was the hem needed to be taken up. Great, finally something was working out.

Spoke too soon! We picked up the dresses and shoes the day before the wedding and took them to the hotel. We were sorting out the shoes and putting them with everyone?s dresses when we came to the realisation that the flower girl?s shoes were not in the bag. So, the owner of the shop was contacted and we were assured that the shoes would be delivered to the hotel that night by six o?clock. By the time six thirty rolled around we were all irritated and the bride was hysterical.

I called the lady back and asked about the shoes to which I was told they would be delivered momentarily. At this point I told the lady that I was not impressed. To which she answered: ?I don?t deal with maids I deal with the bride.? What I ask you is what is the point in being Maid of Honour if you don?t deal with some of the stupid issues that crop up? Anyway, two hours later the shoes arrived.

In our excitement to have everything present we tried on our dresses. One of the dresses had been hemmed two inches two short, while another dress hadn?t been altered at all. How did this happen? Two girls, one dress! We then found out that we had three crooked hems and a couple of bodices that were not lined up right. So, nine o?clock the night before the wedding we had to call the owner yet again to get her to come and fix the dresses and also try to hide it from the bride so she doesn?t have a nervous breakdown.

So, ten thirty the lady shows up to alter the dresses with the promise that she would return them the next day at eleven thirty. All of this could have been avoided if we had just gotten the dresses abroad. While she was fixing the dresses, she tried to convince us that this is the first incident of this nature to occur in the 30-something years of her business. However, in the salon the day of the wedding I found out that another bride getting married that same day had had similar problems. My advice is simply this; ladies please leave plenty of time for natural disasters and disorganised people. We are after all, only human!